Police Grieve Over Death in the Family

At the North Hollywood Division, the flag was at half-staff by the time the sun was up Monday and most officers at the Los Angeles police station wore black mourning bands across their badges by the first roll call.

The news traveled fast and hard.

The slaying of Officer Tina Kerbrat was the crowning blow to the 233 officers assigned to the station. A week earlier, two other North Hollywood officers were shot while on patrol. They survived, but Kerbrat, a 34-year-old rookie, did not.

“It’s almost like we don’t want to look into each other’s eyes because of the pain,” said Officer Alicia Green, who graduated from the Police Academy with Kerbrat and was assigned to the North Hollywood Division with her.

“It’s like we lost a member of the family,” Green said. “It’s just a bad day. And coming after the shooting of the other two officers, it’s like, ‘We’ve had enough.’ This is a nightmare.”

In the station, officers kept up the pace of business as usual. Few looked behind the desk at the photograph of James Beyea, the last North Hollywood Division officer killed in the line of duty when he was shot by a burglar in June, 1988.

A chaplain passed through the watch commander’s office to see if he was needed. Members of the media gathered outside by the flag. Officers were reluctant to talk about the shootings. At midmorning, a delivery of flowers from a local radio station arrived with a note marked, “In memory of Officer Tina Kerbrat. We are fighting a war here at home, too!”

Capt. Bruce Mitchell, commander of the station, said the division’s officers were in shock--not just because of Kerbrat’s death and the short interval between attacks on the station’s officers, but because the shootings occurred during routine police work.

On Feb. 3, Officers Jon Hurd and Richard Householder were wounded in a shootout on Vineland Boulevard after pulling over a motorist who had run a stop sign. Kerbrat was shot in the face as she was getting out of a car to write citations to two men who were drinking in public.

“The mood here is shock,” Mitchell said quietly. “If it had been a case where the officers were facing a known danger, it would be more acceptable. But this came out of the routine.”

Mitchell told officers Monday to renew efforts to be cautious while handling all calls. He also warned them that the recent spate of officer shootings citywide should not change the way they deal with the public.

Mitchell said he believed the shootings were not part of a trend. “It’s a reminder of how dangerous our job can be,” he said.

The incidents have made some North Hollywood Division officers question whether any part of their job can be called routine anymore.

“It’s the little stops that get you,” said Officer Larry Heck, a department veteran who has been breaking rookies in on street patrol since 1974.

“This was a routine stop that she was on,” Heck said of Kerbrat. “Then--boom--they shoot and it’s all over before it started. The officers did nothing wrong. Their tactics were good. They didn’t drop their guard. But somebody got shot.

“It shows every situation has to be considered deadly,” he said tearfully.

Heck’s sentiments were echoed through the station on Tiara Street near Lankershim Boulevard. So, too, was the pain that came from knowing the fallen officer.

“When you actually know the people that this happens to, it is very hard. When it’s somebody you know . . . I don’t know what to say,” said Detective Mike Coffey.

Kerbrat was one of 36 female officers assigned to the station. Though she was the first policewoman killed in the line of duty in Los Angeles, that had little to do with the grief her colleagues felt.

“When I heard what happened, I didn’t even realize that,” Green said. “I just knew it was an officer who was killed.”

OFFICERS SHOT Ten Los Angeles Police Department officers have been shot at in the last two weeks. Four officers were wounded and one was killed. Here is a look at the incidents in which officers were hit by gunfire. 1 Monday-- North Hollywood Division Officer Tina Kerbrat and her partner, Officer Earl Valladares, pull up beside two men drinking beer near Sunland Boulevard and Canta Street when one of the men opens fire with a .357 magnum revolver. Kerbrat is killed and Valladares returns fire, killing gunman Jose Amaya. Amaya’s companion, James Welch, is arrested. 2 Thursday-- Off-duty Wilshire Division Officer John Harris is wounded in the right side during a gunfight with a man who tries to rob him as the officer steps from a Baldwin Hills Motor Inn room near La Brea Avenue and Jefferson Boulevard. 3 Feb. 5-- Officer Robert Cosner and Officer Julie McAltine of Southeast Division are returning to their patrol car at Imperial Courts housing project in Watts, when they are ambushed by an unknown assailant. Cosner is wounded in upper body and leg. 4 Feb. 3-- North Hollywood Division Officers Richard Householder and Jon Hurd stop a car for running a stop sign near Vineland Avenue and Burbank Boulevard when the driver pulls a handgun from his waistband and begins firing. Both officers are hit tiwce--Householder in the back and arm, Hurd in the chest--but they fire 41 rounds at the driver, Daniel Kozelka, who dies from gunshot wounds to the leg and head.